Tweet
Hi, all! I've been lurking here for a while, but never really bothered to register until recently. I've worked in customer service for about five years now, but NEVER had problems with any customers until I worked in a certain movie rental store that I'm sure you know. Here's a few stories. Forgive me if my post is too long. 
The First Bad Customer
This was my first bad customer ever and also my first day of work at the rental store. I admit, I messed up first. I thought the computer was telling me that she still owed money, but it was actually telling me she still had credit. Oops. She yells at me for a while saying that there was no way she was paying when she didn't owe anything and I said that I wasn't going to make her pay, I just wanted to get my manager to see what was going on. She huffs, taps her foot, declares again and again "I'm not paying. I won't pay". What really pissed her off was the fact that I wouldn't give her the movies she rented until after the balance was taken care of. To be honest, I wasn't thinking about them, I was focused on the money issue. On her way out, I apologized again and said it was my first day. She gets to the door, turns to me and hisses "Next time, you WILL give me my movies" and then runs for it.
In retrospect, this was NOTHING compared to what I would later face, but at the time I felt really bad since I had never been criticized by a customer before.
I might've cried, but the next lady came up to me and said "wow...she not nice..." and my boss told me I was allowed to punch her in the nose. ^_^
Punchline? She's my neighbor, but I'm not sure she realizes this...
Most Recent Customer
Restocking fees still seem to catch people off guard...even after ten years. Basically, we still have due dates and after the due date, you still have an additional TEN DAYS to get the movie back before we even charge you anything.
Well, this lady is above late fees/restocking fees apparently.
Her: I have been coming here for YEARS (yeah, me too) and I've NEVER been charged a late fee.
Me: I'm sorry. -scans movies-
Her: I don't think I'll be returning if this keeps happening.
Me: Well, if you'd like, our store manager is over here. Would you like to talk to him? -sympathy face-
Her: NO!
Me: okay. Total is blahblah.
Her: Is this amount okay (it asks you on the computer if the amount is okay)? No, but I guess I don't have a choice. I can't believe I owe a fee. whinewhinewhine
Me: Alright, this movie is due back on this day and this one is due back on this day. Here you go! -hands movies-
Her: -leaves me hanging and s-l-o-w-l-y puts her stuff in her bag-
Me:
-still handing movies-
Her: -looks at me, walks away to the door, and then holds out her hand with the smuggest look I've ever seen on her face-
Me:
I gave her the movies and even wished her a good night, but it took a lot of willpower not to throw them at her.
On the bright side, we are supposed to put notes on account whenever there is a customer issue, so now all the employees know how rude she is.
And finally, our worst one so far. Wasn't even in our store.
Okay, background. This guy comes in and rents all of the final season of The Sopranos. I couldn't find him in our system, so I called the store he normally goes to to get his account info. During the transaction...
Him: Can I return these to my store?
Me: Oh, I'm sorry, no. We need all our movies brought back here.
Him: what happens if I do?
Me: Well, you won't get fined or anything. They'll call us and let us know they got them and drive them over here next time they can. But we really prefer you bring them back here in case something happens.
Him: okay!
Next week rolls around...and I get a call from the other store.
Other Store: hey, uh... we got A LOT of your movies in.
Me: okay! What do you have?
OS: reads off the numbers for the SECOND HALF of the last season of the sopranos.
Me: UGH! I told that guy to bring them here.
OS: Well, he didn't.
That was all. Other Store hangs up and I think everything is all good. I get another call.
Other Store: Hey...uh....you know those wrong stores I just called in? Did you already check them in?
Me: ...yes...why?
OS: well, that guy turned in the wrong ones and is coming to get them now.
Me: but you can't check out our stuff to him.
OS: I know. He said he's coming anyways.
Me: oh great. Good luck. Call us if you need anything.
OS: geez. I was supposed to be off twenty minutes ago. Oh, gotta go. He just pulled in.
Phone rings. I answer and it's that asshole guy wanting to talk to my boss. My boss tried to explain the policy to the guy (even said "if you'll give me a chance, I'll be happy to explain the policy to you"). Ending note: no, we can't rent out our stuff on the account unless it's in our store. Maybe if we were a franchise store, but as long as we are corporately owned, we have to follow their rules. The guy calls my boss an idiot, so my boss hangs up on him.
Guy calls again. Wants my boss's name. Calls boss and idiot AGAIN! Boss hangs up again.
Guy calls using every threat in the book against boss. Boss offers compromise to guy. Says if guy comes into store, we will be happy to rent the copies of the sopranos we had HERE for FREE this time, but we couldn't rent out the ones in the other store. Not good enough apparently.
Finally, we get a call from the other store. Remember that poor guy who was supposed to get off work twenty minutes ago? Well, he finally leaves and guess who chases him with his car down a highway? You guessed it, asshole guy. Other Store tells us to watch out for a BIG, BLACK HUMMER and that the police have been notified.
The good news is that guy ended up getting pulled over by the police before making it to our store and isn't allowed here anymore, but we were pretty freaked out. We had at least one employee staring out the window at all times in case a car pulled up that fit that description. Afterwards, boss and I went through the employee handbook and circled at least five rules we would've broken had we just given the guy what he wanted in case corporate took his side, but we never heard anything from them about it.
'Anyways, that is all for now. I have loads more, but I figured this was long enough.
The First Bad Customer
This was my first bad customer ever and also my first day of work at the rental store. I admit, I messed up first. I thought the computer was telling me that she still owed money, but it was actually telling me she still had credit. Oops. She yells at me for a while saying that there was no way she was paying when she didn't owe anything and I said that I wasn't going to make her pay, I just wanted to get my manager to see what was going on. She huffs, taps her foot, declares again and again "I'm not paying. I won't pay". What really pissed her off was the fact that I wouldn't give her the movies she rented until after the balance was taken care of. To be honest, I wasn't thinking about them, I was focused on the money issue. On her way out, I apologized again and said it was my first day. She gets to the door, turns to me and hisses "Next time, you WILL give me my movies" and then runs for it.
In retrospect, this was NOTHING compared to what I would later face, but at the time I felt really bad since I had never been criticized by a customer before.
I might've cried, but the next lady came up to me and said "wow...she not nice..." and my boss told me I was allowed to punch her in the nose. ^_^
Punchline? She's my neighbor, but I'm not sure she realizes this...
Most Recent Customer
Restocking fees still seem to catch people off guard...even after ten years. Basically, we still have due dates and after the due date, you still have an additional TEN DAYS to get the movie back before we even charge you anything.
Well, this lady is above late fees/restocking fees apparently.
Her: I have been coming here for YEARS (yeah, me too) and I've NEVER been charged a late fee.
Me: I'm sorry. -scans movies-
Her: I don't think I'll be returning if this keeps happening.
Me: Well, if you'd like, our store manager is over here. Would you like to talk to him? -sympathy face-
Her: NO!
Me: okay. Total is blahblah.
Her: Is this amount okay (it asks you on the computer if the amount is okay)? No, but I guess I don't have a choice. I can't believe I owe a fee. whinewhinewhine
Me: Alright, this movie is due back on this day and this one is due back on this day. Here you go! -hands movies-
Her: -leaves me hanging and s-l-o-w-l-y puts her stuff in her bag-
Me:
-still handing movies-Her: -looks at me, walks away to the door, and then holds out her hand with the smuggest look I've ever seen on her face-
Me:
I gave her the movies and even wished her a good night, but it took a lot of willpower not to throw them at her.
On the bright side, we are supposed to put notes on account whenever there is a customer issue, so now all the employees know how rude she is.
And finally, our worst one so far. Wasn't even in our store.
Okay, background. This guy comes in and rents all of the final season of The Sopranos. I couldn't find him in our system, so I called the store he normally goes to to get his account info. During the transaction...
Him: Can I return these to my store?
Me: Oh, I'm sorry, no. We need all our movies brought back here.
Him: what happens if I do?
Me: Well, you won't get fined or anything. They'll call us and let us know they got them and drive them over here next time they can. But we really prefer you bring them back here in case something happens.
Him: okay!
Next week rolls around...and I get a call from the other store.
Other Store: hey, uh... we got A LOT of your movies in.
Me: okay! What do you have?
OS: reads off the numbers for the SECOND HALF of the last season of the sopranos.
Me: UGH! I told that guy to bring them here.
OS: Well, he didn't.
That was all. Other Store hangs up and I think everything is all good. I get another call.
Other Store: Hey...uh....you know those wrong stores I just called in? Did you already check them in?
Me: ...yes...why?
OS: well, that guy turned in the wrong ones and is coming to get them now.
Me: but you can't check out our stuff to him.
OS: I know. He said he's coming anyways.
Me: oh great. Good luck. Call us if you need anything.
OS: geez. I was supposed to be off twenty minutes ago. Oh, gotta go. He just pulled in.
Phone rings. I answer and it's that asshole guy wanting to talk to my boss. My boss tried to explain the policy to the guy (even said "if you'll give me a chance, I'll be happy to explain the policy to you"). Ending note: no, we can't rent out our stuff on the account unless it's in our store. Maybe if we were a franchise store, but as long as we are corporately owned, we have to follow their rules. The guy calls my boss an idiot, so my boss hangs up on him.
Guy calls again. Wants my boss's name. Calls boss and idiot AGAIN! Boss hangs up again.
Guy calls using every threat in the book against boss. Boss offers compromise to guy. Says if guy comes into store, we will be happy to rent the copies of the sopranos we had HERE for FREE this time, but we couldn't rent out the ones in the other store. Not good enough apparently.
Finally, we get a call from the other store. Remember that poor guy who was supposed to get off work twenty minutes ago? Well, he finally leaves and guess who chases him with his car down a highway? You guessed it, asshole guy. Other Store tells us to watch out for a BIG, BLACK HUMMER and that the police have been notified.
The good news is that guy ended up getting pulled over by the police before making it to our store and isn't allowed here anymore, but we were pretty freaked out. We had at least one employee staring out the window at all times in case a car pulled up that fit that description. Afterwards, boss and I went through the employee handbook and circled at least five rules we would've broken had we just given the guy what he wanted in case corporate took his side, but we never heard anything from them about it.
'Anyways, that is all for now. I have loads more, but I figured this was long enough.
).
Comment